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Monday, September 20, 2010

A Boy and His Monkey

Q loves his sock monkey. Santa brought it to him for his very first Christmas. And he is attached. He calls it Dubba for reasons unknown to us. None of our other children have had a great attachment to any toy/blanket/etc...so it's been fun to watch.The poor thing gets dragged all over, squished, hugged, kissed and mauled. I wash him frequently. The nostrils were lost some time ago and I just repaired the first rip in his arm.

So it seemed only fitting to take his two year pictures with the monkey....and to have a sock monkey-themed birthday party. And yes, I am a theme nerd. I can't help it. I love themes. To me, themed parties are one of those inexplicable joys in life... like new school supplies and clean sheets. Anyway, I have been happily busy, collecting and making party things. It's fun. It's satisfying. And I can't wait.

Q is so fun right now. He is a huge ball of unrestrained and constant, curious energy. But he is a sweetheart so it's okay. I love it when I ask him if he's stinky...and he comes back quick with a shake of his head and a twinkle in his eye, "No, I not tinky...you tinky!" And then we go back and forth telling each other who's stinky. It's the cutest thing in the universe pretty much. That and when he sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. What is it about those teeny tiny voices and singing that just makes you want to melt into a big puddle of toddler-adoring goo? *sigh*

And in other news, he says bacon for thank you. I don't know why he thinks it is bacon, but that probably ties for the cutest thing in the universe. When I hand him a snack, he replies in his little raspy voice, "Bacon, Mommy!" Could you just die?! It's another one of those goo-inducing moments. And those are good to offset the many trouble and mess-making ones.

Also, he is afraid of turtles suddenly. One day he was scared of the couch and was a bit shaky as he told me there was a turtle and he was scared. He wouldn't sit on the couch for days. I took off every cushion to show him nothing was wrong but he was still a little wary... I think he thought one of the pillows was a turtle...or something. Strange. And if you tell him there's a turtle close by, he stops and looks around, real careful like. Funny stuff, kids are.

And here's a little walk down memory lane. Q at 8 months with the still-nostriled Dubba.

My students want to through a Z party like in Ella Minnow Pea. they want to decorate the class like a zoo and dress up as zebras and zippers. I think it would be fun to theme a party around a favorite letter. Just the monogramming possibilities alone are worth the thought!